1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods and systems for performing venipuncture. More particularly, the present invention provides a catheter and needle assembly with an integrated guidewire for transcutaneous insertion of the catheter into a patient's vein.
The term “venipuncture” refers generally to the process of obtaining intravenous access for any one of a variety of purposes, including intravenous infusion, therapy, blood sampling, and the like. In the hospital, for example, venipuncture is commonly used to place a small intravenous catheter for delivering intravenous fluids, drug delivery, blood sampling and the like.
While venipuncture and intravenous access in relatively healthy patients can be a simple matter, such access is often needed in patients who are not healthy and may have small, tortuous, collapsed, fragile, and/or difficult to locate veins. In such patients, venipuncture and intravenous access can be very challenging, particularly to less experienced phlebotomists, paramedics, nurses, and other health care practitioners.
In addition to difficult access, many intravenous catheter placement systems can result in accidental punctures and/or accidental needle contamination during or after placement of the intravenous catheter.
A particularly effective intravenous catheter placement device is described in commonly owned U.S. Patent Publ. 2008/0300574. This patent describes a catheter placement device which includes a handle having mechanism for advancing a guidewire through an access needle which carries the catheter where the handle is adapted to automatically retract both the needle and the guidewire from the catheter after the placement procedure is complete. While the catheter placement device has an effective and valuable design, the need to employ a relatively complex deployment handle increases the device's cost and complexity. Additionally, the handle can obscure the presence and status of the needle and guidewire components of the tool, thus making use of the insertion tool less intuitive.
For these reasons, it would be desirable to provide improved methods, systems, and tools for deploying intravenous catheters using needles and guidewires. It would be particularly desirable to provide simplified deployment systems and assemblies having fewer components and, even more desirably, to provide components which are clearly visible to the user and configured to be utilized and manipulated in a straightforward, intuitive manner. At least some of these objectives will be met by the inventions described below.
2. Description of the Background Art
Intravenous catheter insertion devices and methods are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,704,914 and 5,800,395 and in commonly owned U.S. Patent Publs. 2010/0094310; 2010/0210934; and 2012/0197200, the full disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.